‘Trying to,’ I said. ‘He lives in France, I think? He’s not on social media at all as far as I can see. It’s really hard to find him.’

‘I could message him for you. Pretty sure I’ve got him on something. Yes! I have. He’s on LinkedIn.’

Izzy laughed. ‘We obviously didn’t think of LinkedIn.’

‘Yes, please!’ I said to Lucas. ‘That would be amazing. So. Do you mind if we record this?’ He shook his head, looking amused, and Izzy carefully switched on the voice recorder on her phone. ‘Lucas Ingleby, thanks for talking to us. Can you tell us your memories of Joe Simpson first of all? What was he like?’

Lucas leaned back in his chair. ‘OK. This was a formative time in my life. I was new to the school in Year Nine. It wasn’t easy arriving when everyone already had friends. I was an outsider. To be honest I never fitted in, and there weren’t exactly many mixed-race guys in Devon, so I always felt like a bit of a target. I was at that school for three years, and Joe’s disappearance came halfway through it. Everything is divided into before and after Joe. I really liked him. I’m not just saying that because of what happened. I remember noticing him straight away because he was one of those, you know, cool kids. He had everything and he didn’t even know it. He was good at the school stuff, and he was sporty too, but he had that extra something. The sparkle. The energy. The magic. He would’ve gone on to do something amazing. I’m sure of it. The moment I saw him I wanted to be friends, and I guess that was my downfall. I liked him, but he didn’t like me, and he could be pretty harsh. I guess I tried too hard and pissed him off. Plus, he was mates with Troy and they didn’t want anyone else because they were fine just as they were. I was jealous. I was big for my age – not like I am now, but tall and a bit clumsy, and … What are you, Year Ten?’

‘Eleven,’ I said.